Oxidant air pollution: estimated effects on US vegetation in 1969 and 1974

Technical Report · Sat Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6500666

Moskowitz, P D; Medeiros, W H; Morris, S C; Coveney, E A

In February 1979, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revised the primary and secondary ambient air quality standards for photochemical oxidants. This revision of the standards, based principally on critical review of health effects data, engendered considerable controversy. Several research efforts were subsequently initiated by EPA to develop data to support promulgation of future standards. Effects of air pollutants on vegetation are now being studied by the National Crop Loss Assessment Network (NCLAN) program. An initial element of the NCLAN effort was critical evaluation and preliminary quantitative economic estimation of oxidant effects on vegetation using the Benedict model. This report gives estimates of vegetation value and of loss caused by oxidants in 1969 and 1974 for 687 counties. Losses are estimated to be $1.3 x 10/sup 8/ and $2.9 x 10/sup 8/ in 1969 and 1974, respectively. These losses represent $1.5% of the total value of vegetation in the counties examined. Ornamentals in 1969 and Field Crops in 1974 dominated the total loss estimates. For agricultural crops, loss appeared to increase in the following order: Seed Crops, Citrus, Fruits and Nuts, Vegetables, and Field Crops. Geographic disaggregation of the estimates suggests that for both 1969 and 1974 oxidant loss was greatest in Federal Region IX, especially within the state of California. These estimates should be used with caution because they are based on subjective dose-response damage functions and on air quality measures that may be inaccurate.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 6500666
• Report Number(s): BNL-51327; ON: DE81023769
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560303* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Plants-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CROPS
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
ECONOMIC IMPACT
INFORMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL DATA
PHOTOCHEMICAL OXIDANTS
PLANTS
POLLUTION
PRODUCTIVITY